By The opinion
24 Feb 2024, 20:23 PM EST
Hundreds of immigrants waiting to be processed to request asylum in the United States were dropped off Friday by the Border Patrol (CBP) at a bus stop in San Diego, instead of sending them to a reception center that had been serving as a holding area. wait, because the venue ran out of local funds to continue operating sooner than expected, according to The Associated Press.
The incident shows how even the largest city on the southern border of the United States is struggling to cope with an unprecedented influx of immigrants.
Immigrants who once had a safe place to charge phones, go to the bathroom, eat, and organize their travel to other places in the United States now they were left on the street as migrant aid groups rushed to help as best they could with makeshift arrangements.
Border Patrol buses carrying migrants from Senegal, China, Ecuador, Rwanda and many other countries dropped them off in front of a San Diego bus stop.
Immigrant aid groups said that from there they would take them by bus to a parking lot where they could charge their phones and from there, take them to the airport.
The vast majority planned to spend only a few hours in San Diego before catching a flight or having someone pick them up.
San Diego is one of many local governments that have struggled to help immigrants without sacrificing key services, including those in New York, Chicago and Denver.
San Diego County has donated $6 million since October to SBCS, a nonprofit formerly known as South Bay Community Services, to provide phone charging stations, food, travel advice and other services at a former elementary school. The group intended to keep the drop-in station open until March, but Thursday was its last day.
As in other border cities, migrants tend to stay in San Diego less than a day before leaving for other destinations, but large shelters operated by Jewish Family Service and Catholic Charities have been full for months, prioritizing families. .
Keep reading:
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– Arizona Republicans also want to make undocumented immigration a crime